HAVANA
TIMES – Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feito Cabrera,
ratified the ban on practicing as a tour guide in the private sector. A letter
dated December 28, 2021, was delivered this week to the six representatives of
a large group of tour guides who are calling for their activity to be granted
legal status as self-employment. So far they are out of luck.
The
letter rules that travel agencies and tour operators “are associated with
tourism products developed and commercialized by Cuba’s state tourism business
system and, according to the Ministry of Tourism’s policy, these cannot be
commercialized by natural persons, nor are they able to work as part of private
micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives or as self-employed.”
This
negative response comes after almost a year since over a thousand persons
linked to the sector called for this activity to be legalized. They organized and
sent petitions to the corresponding ministries and even engaged in
conversations with officials from these institutions. Here is a summary of this
process.
Driver, not a Tour Guide
TIMELINE of a NO
February
10, 2021 the
Ministry of Labor and Social Security issued a list of 124 economic activities
that banned in Cuba’s private sector; including tour operator services and
travel agencies. This led to a heated debate from people linked to tourism
services.
In the
following weeks, dozens of people linked to the sector began to mobilize and
send letters to the corresponding bodies. They also shared an online petition
for the legalization of private travel agencies and the document was signed by
over 1500 people.
May 20,
2021 In
response, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security wrote a written response to
one of its signatories saying that “with the new Social/Economic Strategy to
push the national economy in the interest of encouraging local development and
production linkages between the public sector and private forms of management,
the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, alongside the Ministry of Tourism,
are analyzing whether to allow these activities and others relating to the
tourism sector.”
June 7,
2021 the Cuban
Republic’s Official Gazette published Resolution 132/21 by the Ministry of
Tourism (MINTUR), a new series of regulations for “national travel agencies”.
While the
regulations don’t explicitly state who can create these agencies; it does
recognize that natural Cuban persons (including the self-employed) can be “providers
of tour services” that offer “the sale of these in groups, programs, circuits,
excursions or other tourist services” via national travel agencies. It doesn’t
explain how this relationship would work; but the lack of clarity in these
regulations was also a spark of hope for the more optimistic.
August
19, 2021 To many
people’s disappointment, the activity of travel agencies and tour operators
reappeared on the banned list again within a new series of decrees and
resolutions that regulate private sector enterprises (including MSMEs,
cooperatives and self-employment).
September
22, 2021 Faced
with continuous complaints, officials from the Ministry of Tourism and the
Ministry of Labor and Social Security agree to meet with six representatives
from the Facebook group Guías
Turísticos por su legalización como TCP (Tour Guides wanting
legalization as the Self-Employed), which had over 800 members at the time
(today, there are 1100).
At this
meeting, MINTUR asked the guides to hand in written project proposals so they
can “better understand how far they want to go so they can identify the
red-tape that the activity “tour guide” would face as self-employment, to
legislate and find a solution to this red-tape and giving them wide-ranging and
unrestricted participation,” according to a summary of the meeting that was
posted by the group’s members.
January
7, 2022 Group
representatives from Guías
Turísticos por su legalización como TCP who
took part in the meeting with MINTUR and MTSS receive a letter from Minister
Feito, who ratified the ban on the practice of tour guides and travel agencies,
both as self-employment activities, as well as MSMEs and cooperatives.
November 8th, 2021 Contact: Elena Freyre (786)683-8241 cubaid7@yahoo.com allianceforcuba@acere.org HAVANA –
On November 8th, 247 Cuban private entrepreneurs, businesses and cooperatives sent a letter to President Biden denouncing the harmful impact that U.S. sanctions have had on their livelihoods. Despite campaign promises to reverse failed policies of prior administrations, President Biden continues to maintain the 243 sanctions against Cuba that the Trump administration added to the embargo. President Biden has yet to make any policy changes that would alleviate the severe economic crisis affecting all Cubans, including Cuban businesses. As the letter notes, “existing U.S. policy towards Cuba greatly affects our day-to-day business operations and cripples our ability to thrive.”
These private business owners and entrepreneurs work in wide-ranging
economic activities, including hospitality, manufacturing, technology and
agriculture. They represent a sector of Cuban society that the Biden-Harris
administration has stated is a priority area for U.S. support. Yet, as their
letter to President Biden states, the unwillingness to lift sanctions against
Cuba continues to severely impede their businesses’ ability to survive. The
signers of the letter note that it is “particularly cruel” of the Biden-Harris
administration to maintain hostile sanctions in the midst of the devastating
COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Cuban businesses issued a direct appeal to President
Biden to normalize relations, which would help them attain the economic
prosperity they are striving to build.
Oniel Díaz, a founder of Cuban private business consulting firm, AUGE,
stated that he signed the letter “because with sanctions and the blockade [embargo],
the possibility of a prosperous and efficient economy will always be a distant
horizon, despite current economic reforms by the Cuban authorities.” Dianelis
García, from DIAKA, an interior design private firm, said: “Any measure that
limits and prevents the development of Cuban entrepreneurship is
discriminatory. The blockade against Cuba must end.” Another signatory, Abel
Bajuelos from 3D printing microenterprise, Addimensional – one of the more than
400 new private small and medium enterprises – defended that “any initiative to
end the unjust blockade deserves support.”
The Cuban people and Cuban businesses continue to bear the brunt of these
unilateral coercive measures, which have long been determined to be illegal
under international law. The business owners and entrepreneurs noted with
dismay the decision of the Biden administration to pay more attention to the
demands of a minority among the Cuban American community who opposes
engagement, rather than the majority of moderate voices who support
normalization, and to whom he owes his campaign promises. As the letter noted,
“[President Biden] administration’s policies should not be dictated by how much
adversity and suffering they can cause to Cubans, but by how much they can
improve our ability to prosper.”
When Biden was vice president during the Obama administration, he helped
with a groundbreaking effort to overcome decades of hostility, charting a path
of normalization for the benefit of peoples and businesses in both countries.
“Reforms in U.S. policy made during your tenure as Vice President allowing for
increased travel, telecom services and banking helped us substantially. We
dream of the return to those days, when engagement was the official U.S.
policy, producing an economic boom that benefitted us all,” states the letter.
Signatories of the letter urge President Biden “to work with the U.S.
Congress to lift the embargo and to take action immediately to increase travel,
trade and investment, especially given how the pandemic has wreaked havoc on
the global economy, including in Cuba. We urge you to take the following
immediate actions: 1) reestablish a path for remittances; 2) open travel for
those subject to U.S. jurisdiction; 3) reopen the embassy in Havana; and 4)
remove Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.”
Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect (ACERE), Cuban Americans for
Engagement (CAFE), Puentes de Amor, Latin American Working Group (LAWG),
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Center for Democracy in the
Americas (CDA) are supporting this initiative by Cuban private businesses.
These organizations have organized a webinar today, Monday, November 8th
1:00-2:30 PM EST, where four of the Cuban business owners who signed the letter
will be explaining how U.S. sanctions negatively impact their businesses and
why they signed the letter. The webinar will commence with Special Guest Jim
Wedeberg, founder of Organic Valley dairy cooperative, and Professor of
Government at American University, William LeoGrande discussing current status
of U.S. Cuba policy. Facilitated by Geoff Thale, an independent analyst of Cuba
and Central America, the webinar is an opportunity to hear first-hand from
various Cuban business owners, including the CEO of the first private firm to
be created in Cuba under recently passed legislation, and find out how U.S.
sanctions hurt Cuban businesses, their employees and families. Registration is
free and open to the public at https://tinyurl.com/yv4cxx7b.
The letter to Pres. Biden and list of signatories can be found here in
English and its original Spanish version: https://acere.org/sector-privado2
Para
alcanzar un resultado significativo y sostenible se necesita avanzar mucho más
y ofrecer claridad y confianza al campesino de que la política para el sector
agrícola se va a distanciar, definitivamente, de los errores del pasado.
September 05, 2021
Durante
los últimos dos años hemos escuchado hablar al gobierno cubano de
descentralización de los municipios y del reforzamiento de la autonomía de las
autoridades locales para definir estrategias de desarrollo, manejar recursos y
atraer inversión extranjera, entre otros temas. Donde más se ha avanzado en
esta dirección ha sido en la agricultura.
El
gobierno ha venido publicitando su nueva estrategia para la comercialización de
los productos agropecuarios y para la formación de los precios de los
alimentos. Las autoridades de los ministerios de Agricultura, de Finanzas y de
Economía han venido destacando que con la nueva política agropecuaria se
eliminó el monopolio de Acopio, la empresa estatal dedicada a la
comercialización mayorista. La directora de comercialización del Ministerio de
Agricultura refería en el programa televisivo Mesa Redonda el 2 de agosto de
2021: “No hay monopolio. Todos son una familia de comercializadores”.
Diversos
analistas y medios de prensa se hicieron eco de la noticia sobre la eliminación
de los topes de precio en la agricultura cubana desde el 30 de julio. Sin
embargo, se debe tener cuidado sobre la interpretación y alcance de esta
noticia, pues no necesariamente indica un cambio definitivo en la política de
precios en el sector.
Acopio y la “familia de comercializadores”
Cuando se
revisan las normas publicadas en la Gaceta 49 del 4 de mayo de 2021, se
aprecia que, en efecto, las nuevas normas permiten una mayor participación de
diferentes actores no estatales en la comercialización agrícola. Sin embargo,
en el Artículo 18 del Decreto 35 del Consejo de Ministros, se especifica que
“los productores pueden
vender a otras formas de comercialización existentes en el país, los
productos que por problemas logísticos y financieros de las entidades
acopiadoras y comercializadoras no puedan ser comprados…”
“Los productos
contratados que no se adquieran por las entidades acopiadoras y
comercializadoras por causas imputables a estas, se pueden vender por las
cooperativas o productores […] a otras formas de comercialización
existentes en el país.”
Es decir,
se mantiene Acopio con el monopolio para la primera opción de compra. Los
campesinos y cooperativas agropecuarias solo pueden vender en los mercados lo
que no contrata Acopio, o lo que contrata y luego no puede comprar por alguna
razón.
Adicionalmente,
en esta lógica de “economía de municipio” se define en el mismo Decreto que
“los consejos provinciales y los consejos de la Administración Municipal
ejercen la supervisión y control del funcionamiento del sistema de
comercialización agropecuaria”.Y se encuentran entre las funciones de
los consejos provinciales:
Definir los destinos a
contratar y los precios de los productos agropecuarios que circulan entre
sus municipios a partir de la propuesta de sus comités de contratación.
Monitorear los precios
establecidos por los consejos de la administración municipal.
Controlar el funcionamiento
de los mercados agropecuarios.
Aparece
así esta figura en la economía de municipio nombrada “comité de contratación de
las producciones agropecuarias”. Estos están presididos por el gobernador de la
provincia y el intendente del municipio. Lo interesante de estos comités es que
incluyen entre de sus integrantes, además de autoridades locales y las empresas
estatales en la agricultura, a cooperativas y campesinos individuales.
Además de
hacer propuestas para la contratación, esos comités municipales tienen como una
función primordial “concertar para su territorio los precios de acopio
mayoristas y minoristas y los precios por acuerdo aplicables a los productos
agropecuarios que no tengan precios centralizados, de conformidad con los
márgenes comerciales establecidos…”
A partir
de esta norma, las autoridades cubanas vienen señalando que ya hay muy pocos
precios topados centralmente, que estamos en un escenario de “precios
concertados”. Ciertamente, es muy importante tomar en cuenta a los productores
en la definición de estos precios, pero las normas publicadas no especifican
cómo van a funcionar estos comités de contratación. No parece que vayan a
operar bajo un sistema de votación. No conocemos qué poder de negociación real
tendrán las cooperativas y campesinos en estos comités.
El éxito
que espera el gobierno de la “economía de municipio” tiene como explicación que
en la base se tiene mejor información sobre los problemas, los desequilibrios y
las necesidades locales. El argumento es que esto permitirá tomar mejores
decisiones que cuando se tomaban centralmente en los ministerios en La Habana.
Ello puede tener algo de razón, pero también es cierto que la sustitución de
los mecanismos de mercado para la formación de precios es una tarea compleja
aun a nivel municipal, sobre todo si los productores no participan en una
negociación real en igualdad de condiciones con las autoridades locales.
La
capacidad profesional en todos los municipios para asumir todas estas nuevas
tareas es otra duda legítima. También pueden aparecer dudas sobre la
efectividad de tener precios agrícolas muy diferentes entre los municipios. Las
diferencias injustificadas de precios por regiones, y la dificultad para
entender a cabalidad en un comité todas las dinámicas e interrelaciones detrás
de los mercados agrícolas, pueden terminar enviando señales equivocadas a los
productores y generando nuevas distorsiones en la agricultura cubana.
Dado que
la norma deja un amplio grado de discrecionalidad para el funcionamiento de los
comités de contratación, lo más probable es que aparezcan algunas buenas
experiencias y otras muy malas. Tal vez lo más positivo de esta
municipalización sea permitir recoger información sobre las mejores prácticas
para luego poder reproducirlas. Seguramente las mejores experiencias estarán en
los comités que concerten precios más cercanos a los valores que reflejan los
mercados, toda vez que emitirán las señales que se requieren para acomodar las
producciones y la demanda de cada uno de los alimentos a la realidad municipal
y nacional.
Topes de precio e intermediarios
Otra
confusión que se genera sobre la nueva política de comercialización agrícola se
origina en la Resolución 320 de 2021 del Ministerio de Finanzas y Precios del
30 de julio de este año. En esta norma, efectivamente, se eliminaron los
referentes de precios máximos agropecuarios fijados en las resoluciones 18 y 84
de inicios de año.
Pero las
resoluciones 18 y 84, simplemente, habían fijado un límite a los precios
agropecuarios para evitar un aumento desmedido como consecuencia de la reforma
monetaria y de la devaluación de la tasa de cambio oficial del peso cubano. Y
como las estimaciones oficiales sobre el impacto inflacionario de la
devaluación han quedado muy por debajo de la inflación de mercado, estos
límites quedaron obsoletos, resultaban contraproducentes y se eliminaron. Sirva
también este ejemplo reciente para mostrar lo difícil que resulta entender los
múltiples factores que mueven los precios en una economía.
La
Resolución 320 elimina estos límites máximos en los precios, pero no
necesariamente debe interpretarse como un cambio en la política de precios. Los
comités de contratación están vigentes, así como la autoridad de los gobiernos
locales para definir los precios de los productos agropecuarios que circulan
entre sus municipios.
La
ministra de Finanzas lo dejó bien claro en el programa televisivo Mesa Redonda
el pasado 2 de agosto: “Se elimina el tope, pero sin detrimento de la facultad
de autoridades provinciales y municipales para establecer precios minoristas de
venta a la población que tomen en cuenta las necesidades y realidades
territoriales. Ratificamos que esas facultades se mantienen, como también se
mantiene la responsabilidad de las autoridades locales en el enfrentamiento a
precios especulativos y abusivos” (Mesa Redonda, 2 de agosto de 2021).
Otro
asunto en el que insisten las nuevas normas para la comercialización agrícola
es en la eliminación de intermediarios. Se busca que sean los mismos
productores quienes se ocupen de comercializar sus producciones en los
mercados, con vistas a abaratar los precios finales que llegan al consumidor.
La directora de comercialización del Ministerio de Agricultura lo denominó
“autogestión” (Mesa Redonda, 2 de agosto de 2021).
Si bien
ello puede ser factible y beneficioso para los productores a escala local,
parece estarse negando, una vez más, el papel que cumplen los comercializadores
especializados en la cadena de valor de cualquier mercado de mayor escala.
El
artículo 20 del referido decreto limita la comercialización mayorista de
productos agropecuarios a empresas estatales, cooperativas agropecuarias,
poseedores de tierras y vendedores mayoristas de productos agropecuarios.
En este
último caso, se trata de un vendedor mayorista que tendría que operar bajo la
figura de trabajador por cuenta propia. Sin embargo, la norma no permite la
presencia de pymes privadas, cooperativas no agropecuarias especializadas en
comercialización, cooperativas de segundo grado, o empresas mixtas o
extranjeras para estos fines. En el artículo 30 sobre la comercialización
minorista se relacionan los mismos actores, solo añadiendo como novedad a las
cooperativas no agropecuarias creadas para esos propósitos.
Ya
conocemos que vienen en camino otras normas para reforzar el papel de la
empresa estatal socialista en la agricultura. Pero la historia y datos
irrefutables nos sugieren que nada nuevo y provechoso podemos esperar de ellas.
El ministro de la Agricultura anunció en el programa televisivo Mesa Redonda
del 18 de agosto: “ya está la base para el diseño del sistema empresarial
estatal agroindustrial municipal, que ya está en fase de aprobación del Comité
Ejecutivo y después irá a su implementación”.
El sector
de la agricultura, ganadería y silvicultura cubano apenas presentó un
crecimiento promedio anual de 0,5% durante la década pasada. La sustitución de
importaciones, la soberanía alimentaria y el vaso de leche para cada cubano
quedaron como promesas incumplidas de los primeros Lineamientos.
La
llamada “actualización” acumuló innumerables transformaciones económicas,
organizativas y cambios en las normas jurídicas, pero sin querer introducir
verdaderas lógicas e incentivos de economía de mercado en el sector
agropecuario.
Vietnam,
que sí se ha movido en esta dirección con determinación y ha transformado
radicalmente su modelo económico, logró un crecimiento sostenido promedio anual
del sector agropecuario de 3,9% durante los años 90 y de 3,8% en los 2000. Con
estos crecimientos logró incrementar su capacidad de producción de alimentos en
50% durante la primera década y la duplicó al cabo de veinte años.
Con la economía
de municipio estamos nuevamente en el terreno de lo experimental, a pesar
de todos los fracasos que el gobierno cubano ha acumulado durante tres décadas
cuando ha tratado de relajar a medias o ha intentado solo “actualizar” el
modelo de command economy, también llamado socialismo burocrático, entre
otras posibles denominaciones.
Nada
asegura que el cambio de la escala territorial (a los municipios) vaya a
garantizar el éxito de los mecanismos administrativos en la contratación y en
la formación de precios que no funcionaron a nivel nacional. Ya es
conocida la resistencia del gobierno cubano a considerar reformas plenas de
mercado. Cuando existe una variante intermedia, esta siempre ha sido la
preferencia oficial.
En resumen, sí se aprecia en las normas publicadas este año una flexibilización de los mecanismos de comercialización, pero sin que se lleguen a instrumentar verdaderos incentivos y señales de mercado para el sector agropecuario. Es posible que se vean algunos resultados positivos puntuales. Pero para alcanzar un resultado significativo y sostenible se necesita avanzar mucho más y ofrecer claridad y confianza al campesino de que la política para el sector agrícola se va a distanciar, definitivamente, de los errores del pasado.
ON AUGUST 6TH the Cuban council of state
approved a long-awaited law authorising the creation of small and medium-sized
enterprises. The announcement came less than a month after thousands of Cubans
took to the streets calling for freedom and an end to the Communist
dictatorship. After a brutal crackdown, around 380 protesters are now in prison
awaiting trial on charges such as “delinquency”.
The announcement could be designed partly to distract
attention from the state’s suppression of dissent. On an island with the
fourth-highest official covid-19 infection rate in the world it will be tricky
for people to forget that there was enough petrol to power motorcycles, trucks
and buses filled with boinas negras (a special-forces unit of the
Cuban military) who were sent out to rough up the protesters in July, but not
enough for ambulances or incinerators to cremate the dead.
Nonetheless, it is a welcome reform. It is part of
what the government calls the “ perfeccionamiento”, or perfection, of
socialism. Everyone else recognises it as allowing a bit of free enterprise to
compensate for socialism’s failures. In February Cuba’s council of ministers
increased the number of trades open to cuentapropistas, or
self-employed people. Some 124 sectors are reserved for the state, but
everything else is open to entrepreneurs. Even with the recent changes, the
legal status of cuentapropistas is ill-defined. Applying for the
necessary permits is a slog that can take ages. The rules are designed to keep cuentapropistas
small (and therefore no threat to state-owned firms). They can only hire
relatives or other self-employed subcontractors. They cannot incorporate, so
there is no legal difference between their personal capital and their business
capital—if the business goes bust, so do they.
Despite these shackles, enterprising Cubans have
flocked to start their own micro-businesses. Since 2010 the share of the
workforce who are self-employed has soared from 3% to 13%, or more than 600,000
people. Just over a third are women; a third are under 30. They are
concentrated in the largest cities, and are most likely to work as taxi-drivers
or run restaurants and food kiosks.
The new law, which still needs to be published in Cuba’s
official gazette, is expected to allow small and even medium-sized private
businesses to incorporate. This could mean that private firms will be allowed
to hire staff (rather than just nephews or independent contractors). It could
also mean that multiple investors will be able to put money into a private firm
with limited liability. That would make Cuba much more attractive to foreign
investors. Incorporation would also make paying taxes simpler and borrowing
less daunting. But not all industries will be treated equally. Architects,
journalists, lawyers, vets, translators and interpreters, among others, are not
allowed to work in the private sector, or to incorporate.
Cuba’s state firms are pampered, inefficient and the
main reason why the island is so short of basic goods. This, in turn, is one
reason why Cubans have been protesting. Last year GDP shrank by 11%. New
official statistics show that imports and exports of goods have been declining
since 2018, well before the pandemic scuppered tourism and starved Cuba of hard
currency. Hoping to boost morale, the government has distributed some food,
donated from Mexico and elsewhere, in the areas where the largest protests
occurred.
Oniel Díaz of Auge, a consultancy, has called for reforms to unleash the private sector since 2017. He is excited by the new law, but cautious too. Opening a business is likely to continue to be much slower than elsewhere in the world. “At the end of the day, this is still Cuba.”■
HAVANA, Aug 27 (Reuters) – Cuban entrepreneurs, running businesses ranging from selling dried fruit to repairing bikes and developing software, are scrambling to understand the opportunities and challenges ahead after a landmark change in the rules governing the Communist-run economy.
Earlier
this month, the government released regulations about a reform that would allow
small- and medium-sized ventures to formally incorporate as businesses and access
state financing, ending decades of classifying them as ‘self-employed’.
The
measure is seen by many analysts as one of the most important reforms
undertaken since all businesses – down to shoe-shine boys – were nationalized
in 1968 by former leader Fidel Castro.
Omar
Everleny, one of Cuba’s best-known economists, described the reform as a very
positive one, long-sought by many Cubans.
It does have important limits – for instance, people can own no more
than one business and cannot contract foreign partners or carry out direct
foreign trade. “Given the economic
situation and remaining restrictions, it will not mean a big economic
improvement in the short term,” cautioned Everleny.
For
Nayvis Diaz, founder of Velo Cuba, a bicycle repair and rental company with 17
employees in Havana, it marks a significant change, however. “What is important is we are now fully
part of the economy and no longer marginalized,” she said. “Many people with a lot of social and
business responsibilities in the city, and many others in the private sector,
were waiting for this.”
The
measure forms part of a package of market-oriented reforms undertaken by Cuban
President Miguel Diaz-Canel over the last year, as the coronavirus pandemic and
tougher U.S. sanctions tipped the shaky economy into a tailspin and led to
shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods.
Cuba’s
economy contracted by 10.9% in 2020 and shrank another 2% this year through
June, compared with the same period in 2020. It remains reliant on tourism and
imports.
The
Fernandez brothers, who own Deshidratados Habana, Cuba’s only company
processing and selling dried fruits, were nevertheless enthusiastic. Nayvis Dias (C), founder of Velo Cuba, speaks
to employees at her bicycle repair and rental company in Havana, Cuba, August
25, 2021. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini “A
bad economy can present opportunity,” Oscar Fernandez said, standing amid
makeshift ovens and other equipment in his basement. The company began when the
pandemic forced their cafeteria to close, he explained.
THE
HORIZON HAS OPENED
Hundreds
of small businesses have found niches in a state-dominated economy short on
imagination and initiative: from gourmet restaurants and 3D-parts manufacture
to software development, home delivery, landscaping and construction
contracting.
The
private sector, excluding farmers, has expanded since the 1990s to encompass
more than 600,000 self-employed license holders. It includes small-business
owners, non-agriculture cooperatives, their employees and members, tradespeople
and taxi drivers.
The
Fernandez family business sells dried fruit online and has placed their product
at three upscale private food shops in Havana.
“The horizon has opened,” said Oscar, who holds a doctorate in
economics. “Once incorporated we can establish relations with state and
private supply chains and market our product to whomever – from state-run
stores to hotels, as well as export and seek financing from local banks or
abroad.”
Diaz, in
her workshop crowded with bicycles, was also enthusiastic about the prospects
for growth, adding that she would be cautious and consult her lawyer and
accountant every step of the way. “We
have to analyze the economic context closely because we will have an increasing
responsibility with all the people that we are going to hire in our
companies,” she said.
The
Fernandez brothers have drawn up plans for a small factory that would process a
ton of fruit daily, including for export. They dream of owning a store that
sells their products. “We have the
land and suppliers lined up. We just need about $100,000 in financing,”
Oscar said.
But one major worry remains – one shared by many Cubans on social media. “We still have to see what happens in practice: how far the government really allows us to develop,” Ricardo Fernandez said.
I have just read Vegard Bye’s Cuba analysis – a bit
late as it was published in mid-2020. It
is indeed an excellent analysis of Cuba’s current situation and prospects.
This is one of the very best general analyses of the inter-relationships
between Cuba’s economic conundrums and reforms, its socio-economic transformationsand the character and functioning of the political system. Bye has drawn from his own experience in Cuba
over a number of decades and from a careful and examination of the broad ranges
of literature from within Cuba, from Cuban analysts outside Cuba, and from
Cuban-American and international analysts. His chapters on the economic changes
since the death of Fidel and their social implications is masterful. Even better is his analysis of Cuba’s
political system in Chapters 4, and 6 to 8.
This volume is a tremendously valuable resource for
a comprehension of Cuba’s current situation and its possible future.
INFORMATION ON THE BOOK:
Title: Cuba,
From Fidel To Raul And Beyond
Format: Paperback
Published: August 14, 2020
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Language: English
ISBN – 13:9783030218089
OVERVIEW FROM THE BACK COVER:
This book analyzes the economic
reforms and political adjustments that took place in Cuba during the era of
Raúl Castro’s leadership and its immediate aftermath, the first year of his
successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel. Faced with economic challenges and a political
crisis of legitimacy now that the Castro brothers are no longer in power, the
Cuban Revolution finds itself at another critical juncture, confronted with the
loss of Latin American allies and a more hostile and implacable US
administration.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Retreat of State as Economic
Actor?
Achieving the Required Surge in
Investment and Growth?
Political Implications of
Socio-economic Changes
T he Evolving International
Arena: Fitting into a New Context
More Pluralism or Continued
Authoritarianism/
Evolution of Party and State
Relations
Towards the End of Gerontocracy
Into the Critical Juncture:
Principal Dilemmas and Possible Scenarios
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
“The text that Vegard Bye
presents to us summarizes the ideas and visions that he has been developing
after years of observing closely the evolution of the Cuban social, political
and economic model, especially during the reforms process led by Raul Castro
since 2008. His proposals and analysis have the virtue of not falling into
common places and stereotypes so usual in the Cuba subject. He found
originality from his firsthand knowledge of the Cuban reality, seen from an
international perspective and from the prism of modern concepts of political
science.” (Pavel Vidal Alejandro, Professor of Economics at Pontificia
Universidad Javeriana, Colombia)
“This is
a timely book and a well-informed contribution to the ever-going debate about
Cuba’s future. The author has accumulated decades of experience in assessing
and living in the Cuban reality, and the book offers just that, a scholarly as
much as a personal view of the events in the Island. Whether you share or not
his opinions, this piece will greatly contribute to your knowledge about this
fascinating country, in a way that is both enjoyable and useful.” (Ricardo
Torres, Professor at the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, University
of Havana, Cuba)
“Displaying
an expertise gained through several decades of closely watching developments on
the island, Bye delivered a very perceptive and informed analysis of the
economic and political changes in the post-Fidel era, the outcomes of Raúl
Castro’s reform and the political scenarios for the future. A most-needed
assessment of Cuba’s contemporary realities from a political science
perspective.” (Nora Gamez Torres, Cuban-American journalist covering Cuba
and US-Cuban relations for Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald)
“A timely
and thankfully heterodox volume that gives readers a front row seat and fresh
and locally informed analysis of contemporary Cuban political economy. The
book provides both a sober assessment of Raúl Castro’s 10 years of economic
reforms (2008-2018) and an early analysis of the first year of Miguel
Díaz-Canel’s―Raúl’s hand-picked successor―government. Its unique
perspective derives equally from the author’s immersion in progressive projects
of national renovation in Cuba and Nicaragua as a war correspondent, United
Nations official, and representative of various Norwegian development
agencies. Bye’s ongoing collaboration with various leading Cuban NGOs and
civil society groups gives his book an insider’s insight and balance rare for a
volume by a non-Cuban about such a controversial topic as Cuban politics.” (Ted
A. Henken, Associate Professor of Sociology at Baruch College, City
University of New York, USA)
“A study on Cuba focused on its most pressing issues. A must-read for any researcher―carefully researched and accessible to anyone interested in the past, present and future of the Cuban Revolution.” (Harold Cárdenas, co-founder of the Cuban blog La Jóven Cuba)
VEGARD BYE is
a Norwegian political scientist, writer, consultant and ex-politician. He has
represented the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights in Angola and Bolivia, written extensively on Latin America, and is
a consultant specializing on human rights, democracy, conflict and
post-conflict societies as well as solar energy. He served as a Substitute
Representative (Vararepresentant) to the Norwegian Parliament
for the Socialist Left Party from Oslo
(1993-1997), meeting in the Standing Committee on Foreign
Affairs. He is currently
a Partner at Scanteam a.s., an Oslo-based consulting company focusing on international
development and responsible business.
HAVANA —
Cuba has approved a reform that includes long-sought legal status for private
businesses that began operating decades ago under the title of “self-employed,”
state-run media reported on Wednesday.
Top officials have said for months they were planning changes to sort out rules for state-run companies and private cooperatives and businesses so they can function on an equal footing in the Communist-run country.
The Council of Ministers agreed the measure at its latest closed-door session, state-run media wrote, without detailing when it would become law.
The
reform would include legal status for the private sector’s thousands of
businesses from eateries and garages to construction and beauty salons and for
cooperatives.
“With
this decision we are approving how to organize the actors in our economy, which
goes much further than the simple recognition of some of them,” Communist Party
leader and President Miguel Diaz Canel was quoted as stating.
Unlike
Communist Party-ruled China and Vietnam, Cuba has been slow to implement market
reforms to its Soviet-style command economy.
But the government has picked up the pace in the face of a severe
economic crisis and food, medicine and other shortages it blames largely on
U.S. sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, while admitting failure to reform is
also at fault.
Still,
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz emphasized the state would remain the
dominant economic player, insisting “we are not privatizing the economy,”
according to the report.
Private
farmers and cooperatives have operated for decades in Cuba in agriculture. The
“self-employed” sector meanwhile – that includes businesses, their employees,
trades people and others such as taxi drivers – has expanded over the past
decade to include more than 600,000 workers.
Thousands more work in non-agricultural cooperatives, a new category
allowed in 2012. Authorities had suspended issuing new licenses for such
cooperatives but under the new reform will start issuing them once more. All in all, the private sector now makes up
around a third of the six million strong labor force.
Oniel
Diaz, co-founder of the private businesses consultancy AUGE, said approval
signaled a further expansion of the private sector was on its way, but it still
could take a while. “The wait
continues,” he tweeted.
(Reporting by Marc Frank; additional reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Nick Macfie)
CUBA EMPRESARIAL. EMPRENDEDORES ANTE UNA CAMBIANTE POLÍTICA PÚBLICA, by Ted Henken and Archibald Ritter, 2020, Editorial Hypermedia Del Libro of Spain. This is an up-dated Spanish-language version of the book ENTREPRENEURIAL CUBA: THE CHANGING POLICY LANDSCAPE, by Archibald Ritter and Ted Henken.
The publication details of the volume are as follows:
Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Hasta ahora, este libro es el más
completo y profundo sobre la iniciativa privada en Cuba.
Cardiff Garcia. Este libro aporta una lúcida explicación a la particular
interacción entre el incipiente sector privado en Cuba y los sectores
gubernamentales dominantes.
Sergio Díaz-Briquets. Cuba empresarial es una lectura obligada para los interesados en la situación actual del país. Su publicación es oportuna no sólo por lo que revela sobre la situación económica, social y política, sino también por sus percepciones sobre la evolución futura de Cuba.
Richard Feinberg.Los autores reconocen la importancia de
las reformas de Raúl Castro, aunque las consideran insuficientes para
sacar a la economía cubana de su estancamiento.
